MODERN MEXICAN RESTAURAUNTS IN DENVER & PHOENIX

Looking for the best tacos in Phoenix & Denver?

Look no further than Tacos Tequila Whiskey. That’s not just us talking—we’ve collected more restaurant awards and accolades than we know what to do with, from critics and diners alike, including being named one of the top 50 new restaurants in the nation by Bon Appetit Magazine.

We’ve brought our modern twist on “comida de la calle”—Mexican street food—to a sit-down restaurant with an expanded menu and a selection of quality, small-batch tequila and whiskey as well as award-winning cocktails and desserts. We still believe in using local products while staying true to authentic regional recipes—we specialize in making the absolute best street tacos anywhere.

So come in and see what everyone’s talking about, grab one of our award-winning tacos and sip on a drink from our extensive list of tequila, whiskey and (again) award-winning cocktails.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Let’s start from the beginning…Pinche Tacos

Pinche Tacos opened as a food truck with a vision to serve the best damn tacos you’ve ever seen coming out of a moving vehicle. Why Pinche? Well, these weren’t the crunchy, ground-beef tacos you might have had growing up and we wanted to make damned sure you knew it. Mission accomplished – soon we had lines of people waiting to try these tacos but, of course, not everyone was as excited about the name as they were about the tacos. Don’t know what it means yet? You can check out a quick primer on the various connotations in Patricia Calhoun’s great article HERE. We had no idea the uproar it might cause and it didn’t really matter…until we tried to offer our diners a little more.

We wanted to bring our delicious tacos to more people, so we bought a food cart to put on the Sixteenth Street Mall. Once the authorities caught wind of our name it was a “no-go” unless we could name the cart something else. After a brutal Facebook contest to find a new name (more on that HERE), we ended up as Tacos Borrachos. It’s a great name—irreverent, slightly offensive, a little dirty—kind of “Pinche Lite.” Well, we discovered pretty quickly that we didn’t want to be in the cart business—it never went to the mall and made a select few appearances at Civic Center Eats before we canned the idea altogether. But it started a long line of city protests about the name that would follow us to our first brick & mortar location.

Originally, we figured that people shouldn’t have to wait for the trailer to get a great taco. Winter was a taco wasteland and people were chomping at the bit to get first crack at the trailer when it opened. With a brick and mortar you wouldn’t have to wait, wouldn’t have to stand, and you could get a delicious adult beverage to boot! As it turns out, you may still have to wait a little (not the entire winter), and you may have to stand a little (yes we do get busy), but now you can get the best damn tacos pretty much any time you want (with a solid cocktail to match)!

Of course, the name was a sticking point once again. We wanted people to find us, but we were not allowed to put the word “Pinche” anywhere near the restaurant. For our sign we just wanted people to know what they were going to get – “Tacos, Tequila & Whiskey.” Pretty basic, huh? It has kind of stuck and has become our de facto name. It makes sense—we serve amazing Tacos, some of the best Tequila you can get your hands on and a wide variety of quality Whiskey.

So we completely understand if, after all of that, you’re a little confused. Frankly, we don’t care what you call us. We’ll just keep cranking out the best damn tacos you’re ever going to put in your mouth.

Cheers!

JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Kevin Morrison

Prior to opening in 2010 Kevin Morrison was the founder of Red Tomato Specialty Produce. Red Tomato served the independent upscale restaurant industry in Denver from 1995-2000, when Kevin sold the company to his operations manager. Kevin went on to co-found the Spicy Pickle Sub Shop in 1999 and also co-founded Spicy Pickle Franchising in 2003. In 2006 the concept won Nations Restaurant News “Hot Concept” award and went public in 2007.

Later in 2007 Kevin was the creative force behind Crumb Rustic Bakery, a wholesale bakery that serviced all of Colorado’s Spicy Pickle restaurants.

In 2010 Kevin left the restraints of corporate life to develop other grassroots food concepts.